The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

Massive WA native title deal edges closer

A $1.3 billion native title deal covering a large part of Western Australia's South West region is a step closer to being implemented.

After most of the members of the principal Noongar native title claim groups backed the deal at meetings earlier this year, six indigenous land use agreements were signed on Monday.

They will now be filed with the National Native Title Tribunal, which will determine whether the agreements can be registered.

The state government hopes they can start to be implemented by mid-2016, notwithstanding any objections that may be lodged.

Under the deal, Noongar people will surrender native title rights in a 200,000 square kilometre area spanning from Jurien north of Perth to Ravensthorpe in the Goldfields-Esperance region in exchange for $1.3 billion worth of land, finance and benefits over 12 years.

But Premier Colin Barnett expressed disappointment in parliament in April that the Rudd, Gillard and Abbott governments had not honoured a Keating government commitment, dating back to the passage of the Mabo legislation, to meet 75 per cent of the cost of settling native title.

Mr Barnett said the commonwealth would chip in about $10 million to the South West deal.